|
Farnborough International 2000:
Day Four
FARNBOROUGH, England - The landmark signing of the Airbus
A400M military transport agreement highlighted the show
today. Seven European defense ministers gathered at FI2000
to sign on for the airlifter, which essentially gives the
green light to the A400M program. No financial terms have
been agreed upon, but the deal is estimated to be worth
more than $17 billion.
Although the news began to wind down a bit today, Boeing
was not without a significant aircraft order. The Seattle-based
company won another round for its Boeing 717 jet, plus another
Boeing 747F order from Turkmenistan. In all, Boeing netted
around $291 million today.
Boeing also had some interesting news related to the International
Space Station to share with the industry. The timing seemed
appropriate in light of the recent docking of the Zvezda
module earlier today.
Seven European Countries Commit
to 225 Airbus A400Ms
 Today
it was the military arm of Airbus that took the spotlight
at Farnborough.
Seven European nations announced plans to buy 225 Airbus
Military A400Ms - the airlifter currently being designed
by the European industrial group led by Airbus.
The defense ministers of Britain, Belgium, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain and Turkey held a press conference to mark
the historic purchase. Although united in their intentions,
the ministers said they could not come to terms with AMC
on pricing for the A400Ms as of yet.
The countries do expect to come to a contractual agreement
with AMC by the end of this year.
AMC is also facing some trouble on the engine side of the
program. AMC says it has two acceptable engine proposals
on the table from which to choose, but was informed in February
that the two competing companies prefer to submit a joint
proposal.
The two engine proposals under consideration are the Rolls-Royce
BR700-TP and the M138 from Turboprop International.
"AMC will only consider the joint proposal if it is better
than the two currently on the table," said David Jennings,
director of marketing for Airbus Military.
Further, AMC believes the commitments received today from
the seven European defense ministers will only increase
pressure on the engine manufacturers to come to terms.
The engine selection is due this fall.
Calling it the "C-130 for the 21st century," AMC spent
most of the press briefing on the A400M comparing the aircraft
to the Lockheed market dominator.
The A400M provides twice the volume of the C-130J and twice
the payload for almost identical life cycle costs, said
AMC.
As for the "other end of the airlifter spectrum" (meaning
the larger Boeing C-17 Globemaster III) AMC says its A400M
will provide two-thirds the C-17's volume and half the mean
payload, but at less than half the price of the C-17 and
for one-third of the C-17's life cycle costs.
More than 400 military transports equip European air forces
today, the bulk of them C-130s and the Franco-German C-160
Transalls. Most are around 30 years old and in need of replacement.
The A400M proposal was submitted to the seven nations in
January 1999.
The A400M has a maximum payload of 37 tons and a cargo
box volume of 356 cubic meters. The aircraft will have an
operating range of around 2,500 nm.
- by Rebecca Rayko
Boeing
Wins $291 Million in Orders
 Boeing
was able to squeeze in a respectably sized order toward
the close of the show. Today the company confirmed orders
by Turkmenistan Airlines and Korean Air worth a total of
$291 million.
Turkmenistan
Airlines has signed for three Boeing 717-200 jetliners,
and Korean Air ordered one new Boeing 747-400 freighter.
The
first Turkmenistan 717 will deliver in July 2001. Korean
Air is scheduled to take delivery of its new airplane in
November 2001.
"The 717 is an excellent airplane as we continue with our
plan to replace Russian-built aircraft with Boeing airplanes,"
said Ilyas Berdiev, chief executive of Turkmenistan Airlines.
Turkmenistan
Airlines will configure its new airplanes to carry 110 passengers
in a mixed-class configuration - 55 in business class and
55 passengers in economy.
The
order is part of Turkmenistan Airlines' plan to modernize
its fleet with Boeing jetliners.
The
Korean Air order has already been included in cumulative
order totals published by Boeing, attributed to an unidentified
customer.
Korean
Air operates a fleet of four MD-11 freighters, seven 747-200
freighters, and five 747-400 freighters, two of which began
operations in Los Angeles and New York in June. KAL operates
a fleet of 26 747Fs.
-
by Rebecca Rayko
AgustaWestland Join for Brighter
Future
 FI2000
yielded another giant in aviation manufacturing with the
marriage announcement of Agusta and Westland.
This comes
after 18 years of successful collaboration. Both companies
have a joint pavilion at the show, despite entering FI2000
as separate entities.
Now called
AgustaWestland, the Italian and German companies finally
agreed on the details concerning the marriage of their helicopter
businesses. Combined, the venture in 1999 had revenues of
$2.1 billion and is now the second player on the market
just after Boeing. It is heads over Eurocopter, Bell and
Sikorsky. The current order book exceeds $8 billion.
The new company
is expected to be fully operational this summer. Agusta
offers a wide range of products in the light sector, and
Westland is extremely healthy financially.
GKN Westland
Helicopter Ltd reports annual sales of $4.6 billion with
a backlog worth approximately $6.2 billion. In 1999, Agusta
had sales of $800 million and a backlog at $3.4 billion.
The product
range covers all types of helicopters, from the light A119
Koala to the heavier EH 101. Surprisingly there is little
internal conflict between any products. All of them have
strong support, and just a day before the merger was announced,
Agusta completed a deal with Denel, which will proceed with
final assembly of 30 A109s dedicated for the South African
Air Force. The company will also be engaged in production
and sales of Koalas.
The creation
of AgustaWestland means there are now two large helicopter
manufacturing structures residing in Europe. Both are eager
to put their hands on the European domestic market.
- by Ryszard
Jaxa-Malachowski
Boeing
to Commercialize ISS With New Space Module
 Boeing
and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
will jointly market a commercial space module (CSM) that
will attach to the International Space Station.
The CSM is
the sister module to Zarya - in fact it's a clone that Khrunichev
manufactured alongside the Zarya module a few years ago.
The Zarya was launched in November 1998 and has been on
orbit with the ISS for 18 months.
The proposed
multipurpose CSM represents the first significant advance
toward commercial uses of the ISS, said Boeing's Brewster
Shaw, ISS vice president and general manager.
Shaw foresees
a number of potential customers for the CSM, including private
companies wanting to perform research in the space environment.
Endeavors that could benefit from such an environment include
pharmaceutical development, materials processing and physiological
and biologic research. Multiple customers could occupy the
CSM at the same time, said Shaw.
Boeing is already
in discussions with potential customers for the CSM.
The module
can be configured in a variety of ways for multiple purposes.
It can be used to deliver propellant and cargo to ISS, and
when docked to the station, can provide on-orbit storage,
interim equipment, and waste management capabilities.
External pallets
can be used for Earth observation instrumentation, astrophysical
research and additional external storage.
"The ISS today
is hard pressed for useable volume, especially for the crew.
We can bridge that gap with the CSM," said Sergei Shaevich,
Khrunichev ISS manager.
Launched aboard
Russia's Proton rocket, the CSM could be on orbit as early
as mid-2002. Khrunichev is also the developer and integrator
for the Proton.
The cost for
outfitting the CSM is estimated to be around $200 million,
Shaw said, although this number is "flexible."
"The primary
cost will be the ride uphill," said Shaw, since the CSM
is essentially a finished product, for all intents and purposes.
Both NASA and
the Russian space agency have given positive indications
for the CSM, so the partners don't foresee any major hurdles
to overcome. Boeing and Khrunichev have solidified their
agreement to go forward with the CSM here at FI2000.
The first three
modules of the ISS - Zarya, Unity and Zvezda - are now in
orbit and visible from Earth in the night sky.
Attendees at
FI2000 here outside of London have the opportunity to see
the ISS as it flies overhead in the early morning sky. When
fully assembled in 2005, the ISS will be the largest manmade
item in the sky and visible from the ground in the daylight.
- by Rebecca
Rayko
Citation
Aircraft Order for Cessna
Cessna Aircraft
Company announced an order from CitationShares for 50 Cessna
Citation aircraft.
CitationShares,
a recently announced joint venture between Cessna Aircraft
Company and TAG Aviation, USA, Inc., will market these Citations
to fractional ownership customers.
The order is
split in half between the two entry-level Citation variants
- the Citation Bravo and the CJ1 CitationJet. The deal is
valued at $300 million.
"This
order, like other recent commitments we have received from
fractional share providers, represents incremental growth
to Cessna," said Gary Hay, Cessna's CEO: "It also validates
our confidence in the investment we have made in CitationShares."
The formation
of CitationShares was announced just days before FI2000.
It marked Cessna's entry into the fractional ownership market.
- by Rebecca
Rayko
Tupolev
to Deliver Five Tu-204 This Year
Next month
Tupolev is going to deliver one more Rolls-Royce-powered
Tu-204 to Air Cairo of Egypt and a Perm Motors PS-90-powered
Tu-204 to KrasAir of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, said Aleksandr
Polyakov, Tupolev presidenet.
In all, by
the end of this year the company will have delivered four
Tu-204s, including two freighters. In the past two years,
four Tu-204s were delivered, including one to Transeuropean
Airlines and three to Cairo Air. All were assembled at Aviastar
factory in Ulianovsk, which merged with the Tupolev design
bureau by order of the Russian government.
The state share
in Tupolev corporation is currently 51%. The government
is now deciding whether to include the KAPO factory based
in Kazan, Tatarstan republic, in the Tupolev corporation.
Talks on the matter with the government of Tatarstan republic
are scheduled for August.
KAPO is a unitary
state enterprise, and with its inclusion into Tupolev the
state share in the latter will have risen. KAPO is currently
changing from production of the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 strategic
bombers to that of the 200-seat Tu-204-200 (also referred
as the Tu-214) and the Tu-324 50-seat regional jet.
The first example
of the Tu-324 could fly within two years' time, according
to Igor Shevchuk, senior vice president at Tupolev for development
and production. Certification of the Tu-214, which will
have an increased gross weight at 110 tons, and longer range,
at 8,000 km, is expected to be achieved by the end of this
year.
Tupolev is
finalizing a deal with RSK MiG on the license production
of the 100-seat Tu-334 jet at MiG's Voronin production center.
Meanwhile, the first Tu-334 prototype is being brought into
airworthy condition for participation at the AviaSwit air
show in Kiev, the Ukraine, in September and at the China
Airshow 2000 in October.
- by Vovick
Karnozov
Lyulka-Saturn
is Solving IndAF Su-30 Engine Problems
Moscow-based
Lyulka-Saturn joint-stock company - developer of the AL-31F
powerplant used on the Su-27 family aircraft - confirmed
that engine malfunctions took place on 18 IndAF Su-30Ks,
blaming physical parameters of the Indian fuel as the cause.
"Despite inevitable
problems occurring each time a new type enters service,
the Indians continue to be excited about the Su-30 performance
and willing to move forward with materialization of the
Su-30 deal, a chief designer with Lyulka-Saturn said.
He further
said that the current problems will not affect the development
and production schedule of the AL-31FP powerplants with
thrust-vector control destined for the Su-30MKI.
Indian aviation
kerosene was found containing more fat-like substances than
normal for Russian fuel. This substance gets clogged in
the injector-type nozzles and the thin fuel-supply tubes,
thereby worsening the engine performance.
The company's
engines, most notably AL-7s, have been flying on Indian
aircraft for many years without serious technical problems
and, according to Lyulka-Saturn, there have been no similar
problems observed on AL-31F engines on RusAF Su-27 fighters
and their export versions in service worldwide.
At the Lyulka-Saturn
stand, AWN was told that the current problems are probably
caused by the oil now being taken from different oil rigs
as compared to "earlier standard fuel" - the latter did
well inside Russian-built engines.
Difficulties
with Indian fuel hit the Moscow engine manufacturer unexpectedly,
the chief designer admitted. However, the problem is being
solved together with the Indians in a friendly atmosphere,
Lyulka-Saturn says.
Ground personnel
of IndAF were described as well-qualified and very cooperative.
Joint Russian-Indian teams have been formed to find a solution.
Described as "nothing more than a solvable minor operational
problem," the malfunctions have shown the necessity to revise
the design of some tubing in the fuel supply and dosage
control system to match the Indian fuel, different than
the Russian one in temperature/density/viscosity parameters.
This work is
going to take half a year. Saturn-Lyulka provided the Indian
side funding for this work in accordance with the agreed
schedule.
- by Vovick
Karnozov
Airbus
Talks with Russia on A3XX
 A
group of Russian manufacturers had a new session of negotiations
with Airbus Industrie on their participation in the A3XX
program three weeks ago, Igor Shevchuk, senior vice president
at Tupolev for development and production, told AWN.
At the session
both sides confirmed their intent to work together. Shevchuk
further said that the final distribution of shares will
have taken place by the end of this year - the anticipated
date for the A3XX industrial launch.
The recent
foundation of the Tupolev corporation, which contains the
Tupolev design bureau of Moscow and the Aviastar production
plant of Ulianovsk, should facilitate talks with Airbus,
Aleksandr Polyakov, president of the Tupolev corporation,
said.
The Russian
share is going to be relatively small, reflecting the country'
economic difficulties resulting in little financial resources
for the local aircraft manufacturers. Polyakov told AWN
that the parties have reached an understanding on the areas
where Russian companies will work. In particular, they are
to supply elements for the A3XX pertaining to landing gear
and a number of panels for the wing's centerplane section
as well as the fuselage.
He further
said that Russian companies will participate as risk-sharing
partners, although subcontracting might also take place.
"We have mastered
technologies that the European industry does not have yet,
for instance the manufacture of long panels and high-strength
titanium parts," he said.
Ulianovsk-based
Aviastar factory, for instance, was chosen as the supplier
of critical landing gear elements made of titanium for the
A3XX. Two Russian scientific establishments, NIIAS (Scientific
institute of Aviation Systems) and TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamics
institute) have been working on a contractual basis with
Airbus for over two years, shaping the A3XX's wings, doing
wind-testing for scaled-down models and other work.
Sukhoi was
offered a share in the A3XX several years ago, but, reportedly,
the fighter developer rejected this proposal. Sukhoi general
designer Mikhail Simonov, however, told AWN that he believes
that his company still has a chance to embark on the A3XX
should it get the respective permission and "state support
in certain areas" from the Russian government.
-by Vovick
Karnozov
|
